Feelings/Experiences about Informing resturants about your allergies

[Baginden]

Hello, I am a senior Industrial design student at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and I am allergic to peanuts and tree nuts.  For my degree project I am trying to design a system to help empower food allergy sufferers while dining out.  In my own experience I have felt embarrassed informing the waitstaff about my allergy because of the stigma that something is wrong with me.  When ever I would go out to eat with friends and I do tell the waitstaff about my allergy, I am then interrogated about what I can eat and what I'm "missing out on."  Other times I have been asked to leave certain establishments because they could not accommodate my allergy, or the waitstaff has belittled my life threatening allergy.

It would be incredibly helpful if you could tell me if you have had similar experiences or feelings.  Any stories would be great.  I'm hoping to design a solution that will work for all food allergies, not just mine, so I need some feed back.  Please be as honest as you can be and remember that I am doing this research to help make your lives easier.

Thank you so much

[rebekahc]

There's already a solution (or at least as close as you're gonna get) - chef cards.

[Baginden]

Thank you for your feed back and I have and used them in the past too but, instead of feeding into a system that is already in place I'm trying to design something new. 

My interest is focused on peoples experiences.  Could you please describe your experience in using these cards and what led you to use them?

[twinturbo]

What will a qualitative analysis lead to in terms of application or innovation?

[Benjamin Ginden]

As a designer it is important to look out of our own experiences to understand how other people experience the world.  By understanding other perspectives and whats important to people we can think about new and better ways to solve old problems.

[twinturbo]

That's what qualitative means in research.

[jschwab]

What kind of thing are you looking for? For me, I have had differing experiences with restaurants. I have never used a chef card. I think restaurants are either prepared to deal with common allergens or they are not.

If I had the money to commission a design project, I think it would be fun to have a graphic comic poster about some different possible scenarios for waitstaff/guest interactions, though. I could see a PSA type poster to be hung in the kitchen or break area for what to say/what not to say with allergy guests. I have mostly had good experiences in terms of how I've been treated but I ultimately had to severely restrict dining out to two chains that have superb practices. I have been told by a waiter that the restaurant could not accommodate me and that was OK for me, just felt it was honest and straightforward - better to be told upfront than to have a reaction. Maybe you could collect some common scenarios to represent best practices for making guests comfortable?

The only really bad experience I've had was when trying a restaurant I had not been to since developing allergies (mine developed as an adult). I actually nearly passed out there and totally freaked out because I was alone with my daughter who had no idea what was going on. No one from the restaurant helped. I was mortified because I had acted really strangely and I slinked away and never told the management, but now I look back and I think how crazy that was. My server KNEW I had life-threatening allergies because I just told her when ordering. She saw me struggling and lying down on the bench seat and did nothing to see if I was OK or needed 911 or anything. If my allergies had been more severe or the reaction worse, I could have been in serious trouble.

[jschwab]

Items I personally would include, in case it's helpful:

DO ask everyone at the table if there are any allergens so that guests to not have to bring it up themselves.
DO be honest about whether the kitchen can handle the allergen.
DO assume all declared allergens are life threatening, even if some people have fibbed about having an allergy in the past.
DO check for allergens with every course.

DON'T be afraid to honestly assess the kitchen's ability to keep the person safe.
DON'T involve the whole table by making everybody wait for their food in case of extra prep time. Ask for the table's preference if arrival times are mismatched due to an allergen.
DON'T assume that because a person has an allergy that they don't drink/eat dessert/love food. It's not a health fad!

[Baginden]

Thank you so much, that was incredibly helpful.

[Baginden]

The more experiences, both good and bad, that I can get from this forum the better.  these are some very valuable insights, please keep them coming!

[CMdeux]

As a designer it is important to look out of our own experiences to understand how other people experience the world.  By understanding other perspectives and whats important to people we can think about new and better ways to solve old problems.

I tend to disagree here.

The problem isn't going to be solved by looking at OUR experiences.

OUR experiences reflect the biases and perceptions of those that we're attempting to interface with via chef cards or discreet conversations with waitstaff.

Until you understand the nature of the PROBLEM, solutions are going to be likely to miss the mark. 

Sorry-- understand that I understand where you're coming from and I don't disagree with your experiences, which are much like my own-- but I think that the last thing the world needs is more random solutions in search of problems to solve.  KWIM?  Better to do it the other way around.

So-- what PROBLEM are you trying to solve?

[jschwab]

As a designer it is important to look out of our own experiences to understand how other people experience the world.  By understanding other perspectives and whats important to people we can think about new and better ways to solve old problems.

I tend to disagree here.

The problem isn't going to be solved by looking at OUR experiences.

OUR experiences reflect the biases and perceptions of those that we're attempting to interface with via chef cards or discreet conversations with waitstaff.

Until you understand the nature of the PROBLEM, solutions are going to be likely to miss the mark. 

Sorry-- understand that I understand where you're coming from and I don't disagree with your experiences, which are much like my own-- but I think that the last thing the world needs is more random solutions in search of problems to solve.  KWIM?  Better to do it the other way around.

So-- what PROBLEM are you trying to solve?

I understood quite clearly from the poster that the problem she is trying to solve is helping waitstaff understand how to avoid causing hurt/awkward feelings in allergic guests. That seems pretty straightforward to me. Obviously not every scenario or awkward encounter can be addressed and everyone will have different perspectives on what is awkward or hurtful, but I think the OP was hoping some themes would emerge.

[CMdeux]

Hmm-- underlying issue, though, is that they have to WANT to do better, and most people think that food allergies are exaggerated or made up.  If they didn't, then polite conversations and chef cards WOULD work.

So to get a system to work on the people who NEED to change, the ignorant (waitstaff, etc.) have to understand that there IS a problem.

The bottom line is that they don't-- so why would they seek a solution to a problem that IS NOT a problem... for themselves, I mean?

I'm all for better education among food-service workers.  Really I am.  Educational posters are a good idea, but they probably aren't enough because there is no way to cover even "most" situations with a single poster (the way that handwashing, for example, can be treated).



IMO, the problems that our young investigator is trying to solve are:

a. ignorance on the part of food service personnel  (Note, though, that they are also ignorant of the fact that they ARE ignorant)

b.  hostility, skepticism or irritation on the part of-- well, pretty much the general public.

I don't see how item a shifts much without shifting b as well.  Servers and waitstaff are NOT going to be more sensitive until they believe that food allergies are real, and that we deserve as much dignity as if we rolled into the establishment in a wheelchair or with a service dog.  Currently they don't; we're (as a group) the punchline to jokes, and while that makes me super angry, there's not much that I can do about it short of having the conversation, handing over a chef card, and trusting my gut.  Servers see way too many people with "food allergies" who get served (or deliberately order/eat) their ""allergens"" for them to believe a claim of food allergies without extraordinary evidence.   Unfortunately that is a larger problem that we don't have much power to influence.


Most of us would trade a bit of social discomfort for basic safety when dining out.  Honestly?  NO WAY do I want an ignorant server to have training that allows him/her to fool me better about whether or not they "get" what I'm telling them.   Insufferably insensitive or rude behavior in a server is often my best indicator that they CANNOT serve me safely.  It may be the only one.

Not all of them are smart enough to manage it, frankly.  Not even all of the ones that think that they can are actually that capable.  I wish they'd understand THAT and communicate it more clearly.  I don't mind being told that I can't eat somewhere safely-- it's an annoyance or inconvenience, but NOTHING like the inconvenience of being lied to and having a reaction when their best just isn't good enough.

Maybe a better idea is to have a handy handbook to translate waiter-ese into food allergic consumer tips?   

Don't trust the server who interrupts your explanation about a shellfish allergy to refer you to the "gluten free selections on our menu"  <-- there's my tip of the day.

[twinturbo]

I think what CM means is an industry-side driven solution, and therefore an appropriate investigation, would be warranted. Probably not unlike what Sloan "Allergic Girl" Miller does as a consultant to the restaurant industry where she shows how to deal with cross-contamination in a busy kitchen and why the cumulative revenue from us immune overactive crowd worth more than turning us away.

Or maybe I totally went off into my own headspace there, lol.

oopsie posted at same time

[CMdeux]

Nope-- spot on, IMO.

We as consumers are not in a position to drive change here-- and that IS what has to happen to change the kinds of restaurant experiences that we're all painfully familiar with.